Adventures in Wonderland
by Gypsy Rose1
Summary: After the end. Faye and Spike start over again, leaving their pasts behind them to make a new beginning.
1. Vertical Epilepsy

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Adventures in Wonderland  
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by Gypsy Rose  
  
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TABLE OF CONTENTS  
  
1 | Vertical Epilepsy  
2 | Cold Thai Noodles  
3 | Red-Heeled Shoes  
4 | Disorderly Conduct  
5 | Wanted, Wanted: Garbageman  
6 | Broken Eggshells  
7 | Naming the Baby  
8 | Oh La La, Comme-ci Comme-ca  
9 | El Chupacabra  
10 | Pollen, Dust, and Roses  
11 | Death on Two Legs  
12 | Post-Nasal Drip  
  
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(note: this story takes place after the final episode of the Cowboy Bebop series, 'The Real Folk Blues, pt. 2)  
  
Chapter One  
  
Vertical Epilepsy  
  
It was midnight. A smokey, shady, neon part of town.  
A place where the slums of society preyed on any outsider that came their way;   
like a grungy, scrawny dog that refuses to leave its run down home, though everyone has long forgotten it.  
The Butterfly Motel wasn't any different, a squat building with peeling red paint, a thugish, dirty looking man at the front desk, and a funky odor- but it was cheap.  
Faye Valentine and Spike Spiegel had rented a room, 202, second floor; and they sat inside, on the bed, shoeless and playing poker.  
"You cheated!"  
"Damn it! I did not!"  
"Hey hey hey, I saw you, I'm not blind, woman!"  
Faye hissed at him.  
"I saved your sorry hide! You would be rotting in that dirty prison cell if I hadn't rescued you!"  
"Pfft. They had nothing on me."  
"Nothing!? What the heck were you doing in jail then?"  
"That officer over there was pretty cute."  
Faye touched her forehead lightly, "That wasn't the question you know."  
"I was... Healing."  
"So how bad was your wound anyway?"  
"Sword wounds are pretty damn painful."  
"Yeah... figured."  
"I thought I'd die. I was ready."  
"We thought you were dead. Spike... It was pretty bad... Jet."  
"You just left him didn't you?"  
"Obviously. It broke my heart Spike, but I had to leave- it was creeping me out."  
"Man, you're cold."  
"Damn it! You weren't there Spike! The old man... he... he... I don't know... He absolutely digressed, broke down, total emotional breakdown. I could see it in his eyes, but still he was so silent, and detached, never said anything... anything he was feeling at all!"  
"Well whaddaya know? Old man loved me after all."  
"You surprised Spike?"  
"Don't know what to think really."  
Faye lit a cigarette, and quickly opened a window, dispelling some of the smoke from the room, then sat back down next to Spike.  
"Pft- since when do you open windows Faye?"  
"Cigarettes are really bad for you, you know? After you almost died- I figured maybe I shouldn't be so eager to throw lives away..."  
"Then quit. The window doesn't help you any."  
"Doesn't hurt any either."  
"Anyway minx, how did you get me out of that trap in the first place?"  
"Oh it's a secret," said Faye, with a sly grin on her face.  
"Tell me!"  
"It was all very clever of me."  
"No doubt, you're a crafty little fox."  
Faye shook her head, shooting him a hard look.  
"You almost sacrificed your life over a woman, you know that right?"  
"Julia, wasn't... just a woman."  
"She's gone?"  
"Yeah."  
"Sorry... Spike..."  
"It's okay Faye."  
Faye turned her head away slightly, she hadn't meant... to hurt him like that, to reopen old wounds.  
But it's not like he cared about her, he never asked her, who she was, and who she used to be.  
Faye Faye had saved him because she simply hadn't wanted to see him die- and now she had no idea what they'd do, it was obvious they couldn't go back to Jet, he wouldn't take them. They had gone through so much together- too much, she guessed. Too much pain and trouble came out of two people searching out their pasts.  
But then again, both of their pasts were gone now...  
Spike had killed his, and Faye's had just disappeared- like dust in the wind.  
She put down another winning hand; Spike groaned and threw down his cards.  
"Lucky for me that the prison took all of my money."  
"Rematch when you've got some!"  
"I'm not insane, you're either good at this- or quite a good cheater."  
"I guess it's one way to make a living..."  
"Speaking of that... what are we going to do? I'm not living in this place more than one night."  
"And you think I am? I mean- eww... this place is pretty gross."  
Spike laughed loudly, lying back on the bed.  
"Hey Spike! I'm the woman, I get the bed! Haven't you ever heard of chivalry?"  
"I've heard about it."  
"So get on the couch!"  
"No reason we can't share the bed, I don't have cooties."  
Faye burst out laughing, and threw him a pillow and blanket.  
"Thanks, but I prefer to sleep alone."  
Spike looked down in disgust at the little couch at the side of the room, it seemed to have been yellow once- but after years of filth, stain, and decay, it had managed to take on a sickly green shade.  
"This isn't nice Faye."  
"If you have the money, go to a better hotel."  
Spike shook his head, spread the pink blanket over the couch, turned off the light, and lay down; feet sticking out at the end of the couch, drumming the flowery wall.  
"You never told me how you got me out of ISSP prison, eh?"  
"You want to know?"  
"Obviously."  
"It's a long story..."  
"Even if it wasn't, you'd make it one."  
"I wish you were more grateful."  
"Careful what you wish for Miss Valentine!"  
"I don't see anything wrong with a little gratitude..."  
"You're an odd one."  
"Oh no... I think you're confusing me with yourself Spiegel. Now if you'd like to hear my story of courage and triumph is the face of adversity, shut up!"  
"Faye Faye Goes to Prison."  
"Just visiting."  
  
FIN.  
(for now)  
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
well, that's it for the first chapter! I have the next few written out in my notebook, so they should be coming out as soon as I have time to type it out!  
I'd really appreciate it if you'd review! I promise I'll try to make the next chapters more interesting than this one!  
I hope you've liked it ^_^  
Gypsy Rose  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
Cowboy Bebop and all related characters do not belong to me, and are used with a purely fan fictional purpose. 


	2. Cold Thai Noodles

+++++++++++++++++++++++  
Adventures in Wonderland  
+++++++++++++++++++++++  
by Gypsy Rose  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
TABLE OF CONTENTS  
  
1 | Vertical Epilepsy  
2 | Cold Thai Noodles  
3 | Red-Heeled Shoes  
4 | Disorderly Conduct  
5 | Wanted, Wanted: Garbageman  
6 | Broken Eggshells  
7 | Naming the Baby  
8 | Oh La La, Comme-ci Comme-ca  
9 | El Chupacabra  
10 | Pollen, Dust, and Roses  
11 | Death on Two Legs  
12 | Post-Nasal Drip  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
Chapter Two.  
  
Cold Thai Noodles  
  
Faye had sat in the Bebop with Jet Black for four tense, insane hours.  
Both of them knew Spike would never come back, but they didn't really know what to do: shock.  
Jet and Faye.   
Backs against the cold wall, total and absolute silence.  
Faye was the first to break down, first she was angry, then indifferent, and at the end, slow steady tears ran down her   
cheek, onto the Martian dust.  
Jet finally broke the horrible silence.  
"You hungry Faye?"  
"Um, no." Faye mumbled  
"Hm... Well... I am."  
Faye nodded slightly.  
"I'll go... make myself something."  
Faye nodded again, and Jet got up, slowly dusting himself off and entering the ship, coming out awhile later with a small  
bowl of noodles.  
"You sure you don't want some."  
"Yeah, I'm sure."  
"Listen Faye- he did it to himself."  
"He was a fool"  
"Yeah, he was a good friend."  
"He's dead, do you think?" Faye asked, looking at Jet searchingly.  
"Yeah."  
"I don't" she said, confidently."  
"Oh?"  
Faye bit her lip, "Spike's the type that's always getting ressurected- always the same body, and the same old life."  
"Now, that's deep."  
Faye gave the man a look, scanning his stoney face for any sign of- emotion. There was a kind of remorse hidden in his eyes,  
sadness... Jet wasn't really the emotional type- this was... something for him.  
Faye smiled a weak sort of smile.  
As darkness fell Jet got up once again, sick and tired of the silent scanning of the skies, and disappointment.  
He gave Faye one last look, hesitating, and entered the Bebop.  
Faye watched him go, and after he was inside, laughed to herself quietly, and gathered herself up.  
She tiptoed over to the Bebop's door, her Redtail was parked inside, damaged- but not too badly to fly...  
She listened in at the door, and swiftly snuck inside, gathering up her belongings in a bag, and running back out again.  
She shot the Bebop one last hard look, entered the Redtail, and started it up.  
Within minutes she was above the horizon.  
Jet black watched her leave, through the window. Hard-faced, his eyes didn't leave the speck of the ship until he was no   
longer able to see it.  
"Good riddance... to Spike, and to that damn woman."  
  
Two hours earlier Spike's sorry ass, sword wound and all, ad been dragged out of the half ruined Red Dragon Syndicate  
building, along with all those who hadn't evacuated as soon as the sirens had sounded.  
The paramedics checked over Spike's record before even looking at him.  
"Not from the Syndicate?"  
"No"  
"Bounty Hunter?"  
"Yeah, poor guy... we should fix him up."  
The medic nodded gravely, and looked down at Spike.  
"You think he was stupid? Or wrong place, wrong time?"  
"Hmm, I dunno. Looks like he did quite a bit of damage himself. He doesn't have many wounds, you see, if he had just  
stumbled in, he'd be bullet-ridden from head to foot. Besides, looks like he got the wound from him... since he was   
the only one even found with a sword."  
The medic motioned towards the stretcher with a silver-haired man, hard-faced and frowning slightly...  
"He was found on the top floor, must've been some kind of official- this guy" he said, patting Spike's arm,   
"must've had a death wish going into that hive."  
"Yeah well, now it's us fixing him up... think he'll live?"  
"He's go to, Governement'll be paying well for this one's information."  
The other paramedic's eyes gleamed zealously for a minute.  
"He'll live."  
The other one nodded, "He'll be just fine."  
  
Faye Valentine, with her usual poor timing, was quite a bit too late on the scene, which was swarming with cops like ants   
to a puddle of Pepsi.  
She scanned around silently, noticing that there were no ambulances to be seen but one, whose driver was waiting for anyone  
yet to be found in the rubble.  
"So they've taken them in already," Faye said, shaking her head, "God, where's Edward when you need her?"  
Faye thought about it for a little while longer.  
"Might as well leave him there for a bit, 'least while he's still in the hospital... If he is at the hospital...  
Last time he fought with Vicious he managed to break almost every bone in his body..."  
Faye sighed, wishing she had thought of this before she had left the Bebop, atleast there she had had somewhere to stay  
until Spike was... better.  
Faye still hadn't lost her inflexible optimism that Spike was, after all, alive...  
She landed the Redtail in a slightly familiar neighbourhood, and cast a look around for the discreet little hotel sign  
infront of a once stately old building, that was now a haven for hackers, slackers, bounty hunters, and the like.  
A cabbage-y old woman wearing a dull grey, but clean, high-necked dress motioned towards the front desk, and Faye  
approached it, looking around quietly.  
"Got anyone suspicious here old lady?"  
"No, my dear. This place is quite emptied out due to those incidents that occurred today, the whole lot of 'em just up and   
hightailed it right out of here, except an old drunk, a married couple, and a young hacker."  
Faye nodded, "I'll take a room then... A room with a good view."  
"Room 11 has a lovely window with a small balcony..." the woman handed her the key and waved to a younger, male version   
of herself, her son, to carry Faye's bags upstairs for her.  
"So..." she said, reading his name tag quickly, "Terrence... You wouldn't happen to have a a computer hidden anywhere  
that I could use- would you?"  
Terrence grinned broadly, a crooked sort of smile, and Faye shivered inwardly.  
"I'll bring it to your room- latest model, I always get something off the hackers, not bad myself actually, want me to  
show you a few good tricks?"  
Faye rolled her eyes, the guy was gross, but she needed to find Spike, and if this Terrence guy could help, then so be it.  
"Oh, why sure! I was wondering... if you could help me with something... I'm afraid I'm just no good at hacking."  
Terrence eyed her up and down, and nodded.  
"Now, you aren't in any trouble, are you miss?"  
"Oh no, I've just come to Mars looking for a good friend of mine."  
"Good, you seem the honest type anyway, I can spot a hacker, a gambler, or a bounty hunter from a mile away, and you lady,  
are none of the above."  
"Oh, well..." Faye said, a little off-balance.  
A few minutes later Terrence came back, lugging an armload of tenchnology.  
Faye felt for the gun in the pocket of her coat, making sure it was there, just in case he tried something.  
Not that she couldn't take care of him weaponless, and with her hands tied behind her back.  
"So Miss Valentine, who're you looking for? Boyfriend run out on you or something?"  
"Yeah Terrence, something like that..."  
Terrence had plopped all of the computer hardware onto Faye's bed, and sat there, cross-legged, logging in.  
Faye had a disgusted look on her face, but she quickly turned it into a smile as Terrence looked over.  
"What's his name?"  
"Spiegel, Spike Spiegel."  
Terrence clicked away on the keys, and about 5 minutes later he said-   
"Um, no. No Spiegel anywhere, on Mars atleast..."  
Faye's heart lurched, and a look of complete shock masked her face.  
"Wait, wait" Terrence interrupted, "is it S-P-E-E-G-L-E?"  
Faye felt the anger bubbling up inside of her, what attracted all of the illiterate losers of the universe to her anyway?  
"No you loser... I mean... No. It's S-P-I-E-G-E-L"  
Terrence's face fell, and he went back to the computer.  
"Oh, yeah, here he is... Spiegel, Spike. Admitted into the ISSP Hospital this afternoon. His file is really restricted...   
What kinda guy is he?"  
"The kind that could chew you up and spit you out." Faye said, winking.  
After she had chased Terrence off, she lay down on the clean bed, and stared up at the flowered wallpaper.  
"Better give him a couple of days before I rescue him, so that the doctors can fix up anything wrong... before I get  
him out of there."  
Faye, two days later, arrived at the front of the ISSP Hospital wearing a tight, short, and very revealing little dress;  
tear stains cleverly made down her face, and her hair pulled up.  
She walked into the building with her cattish, swaying gait, only to find that the person at the front desk was a woman.  
She hightailed it out of the building as quickly as she had come in, stoppping outside, and ducking into a small alley.  
She grabbed her baf, and pulled out a baggy black trenchcoat, a few safety pins, and a pair of glasses.  
She pulled the skirt of her dress down to just below the knee, and safety-pinned the front of her dress together, throwing  
on the trench coat. Faye pulled her hair down quickly, and mopped off her make-up with a wet tissue.  
"When you've got to bargain with a woman, you've got to be frumpy and pathetic, or else some minor jealousy might interfere  
with you getting what you want."  
Then she walked into the building again, replacing her confident, haughty gait with slower, slightly shuffling steps.  
"I am such a con woman," Faye thought to herself, smiling inwardly.  
  
"Can I help you miss?"  
"Oh yes, thank you Officer! I'm looking... looking..." she sobbed lightly, "for my fiance! I think he might be here,   
he accidentally got mixed up in some of that horrible horrible mess at that Syndicate thing..."  
The officer raised her eyebrows slightly, "What's his name?"  
"Spiegel, S-P-I-E-G-E-L"  
The officer typed it in, "I'm sorry, but access on that case is restricted."  
"Oh, but ma'am! I must see him! Our wedding is next week!"  
The officer looked at her sharply as the phone rang, she talked quietly for a few minutes, and shut it.  
"Sorry miss, but I'm need upstairs, you can talk to Officer Layke for awhile."  
Another officer, a lot younger, and with large brown eyes, ran up.  
"Hello, can I help you?"  
Faye Faye plead her case again, and the officer's eyes lit up, "Oh of course! I was engaged once too! And I totally   
understand how much you must be worried! And if you say it was accidental... I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't lie to me! Just  
between you and me, I really do know when people are lying, and you look so trustworthy! I'm just fresh out of training,   
but my uncle's an official here, and I have access, so I'd be happy to take you up to see him, even if it's only for a few  
minutes!"  
Faye smiled sheepishly, wow this was easy...  
Officer Milla Layke waved a second officer to the desk, and pulled out her access card, "Follow me miss... miss..."  
"Lory, but you can call me Drina."  
"Okay... Drina! What a pretty name!"  
Faye rolled her eyes as they stepped into the elevator, and Milla punched in the floor number, 98.  
When they got there, Milla flashed her access card to the guard at the door, passed the eye scan, and opened the door.  
The room was dimly lit, with a bed at one side, and a little bolted down set of table and chairs at the other.  
One wall had a tattered poster of an ISSP officer in full uniform on it.  
"Mr. Spiegel? Mr. Spiegel, sir?" Milla chirped into the room.  
Spike lazily opened an eye, hand automatically moving over his bandages. His gaze flickered from Milla to Faye, and his  
eyes widened slightly as he saw her, his mouth grinning in a pained way.  
"F-"  
"Drina- sweetie, remember me?"  
Spike caught on.  
"Drina, honey! Hi, how've you been?"  
"Oh, just fine Spikey! I should be asking you that though! Look at all of those bandages, you must be in so much pain!"  
Milla smiled and backed out of the room, "I'll be just outside, call me if you need me!"  
Faye and Spike nodded, and as she went out and closed the door, they both turned to each other.  
"Yo Faye, I have to admit, you're the last person I thought I'd see; thought you were more of the 'get rescued' than 'rescue' type"  
"Nice Spike. You're welcome. But I have to get you out of here."  
"But why? It was just starting to get interesting"  
"Shut up Spike!" Faye said, as she pulled a small, concealed bottle of spray paint out of her bag.  
"Spike, stand over there by the camera."  
Spike groaned, pointing to his would, but Faye shot him a dirty look.  
Faye quickly stuck her hand, spray paint and all, out of Spike's small, barred window, and made a small red mark on the side  
of the building, underneath the rim.  
"Listen up. I'm leaving now, in an hour I need you to be under your bed, arms over your head, and ready to go."  
"Faye...? This better not be another one of your hare-brained ideas..."  
Faye blew him a kiss and knocked on the door.  
  
After Faye had left, a burly, but smiling nurse entered the room with a little wheeled cart cluttered with pill bottles,  
and syringes.  
She picked up a needle and a little bottle.  
"Time for a little nap, Mr. Spiegel! We've got to make you better! Wound won't heal up if you fret over it."  
Spike shrugged silently, smiled, and held out an arm; a few minutes later he lay back, closing his eyes sleepily, and yawning.  
Nurse Elwa flicked off the lights, and closed the door, motioning to the guard to seal the room up for the night and to go home-  
leaving the floor to a security system, and a night watch-man.  
  
Faye waited, hidden in a litle park near the ISSP building, a pair of binoculars pressed to her eyes; she watched the lights go off in Spike's room and grinned.  
"Time to go..."  
She jumped into her Redtail and turned on the engine, flying low towards the ISSP Hospital.   
A few feet away from Spike's outside wall she got the Redtail's guns ready...  
It would be risky, and she'd have to do it extremely quickl...  
Then she shot in the wall.  
Spike, who had been asleep the whole time, and hadn't actually got under the bed, like Faye had told him to, was convered from head to foot with rubble, as the Redtail  
came blasting into the toom.  
Faye jumped out of the ship.  
"Spike! Spike! Get over here!"  
Coughing through the dust and rubble, Faye ran around the room, peering under the bed until she heard a little choking sound  
from the bed.  
"Damn it Spike!" she whined, digging through the rocks and rirt until she finally dragged Spike's sleeping, snoring body  
from the bed, and pulled him into the Redtail.  
"Oh man... This ship wasn't made for two people!"  
Wriggling around, she got her arms free and got the Redtail out of the room, just as the guards blasted through the door.  
Outside a few police cruisers were waiting, but Faye was too ticked off to care and she shot them down, speeding out of the city,  
and landing in a deserted field.  
"Spike... Spike..." she poked him uncertainly, then shaking him to wake up, "SPIKE!"  
Faye growled, he was just a bunch of dead weight, as usual, no help at all. He'd probably wake up, at the end, when Faye Faye  
was just about ready to die from exhaustion from dragging his carcass around the planet.  
After a few hours Faye started the Redtail up again, and flew back towards the city, to that shady, strange neighbourhood,  
and to the Butterfly.  
  
Spike shook his head and called from the couch, "That was it?"  
Faye gave him a fierce look, "It? It? I thought IT was pretty heroic and ingenious!"  
"I guess..."  
"Say it like you mean it you ingrate!"  
"How much money do you have anyway?"  
"Oh not all that much."  
"And...?"  
"I have a plan!" said Faye, winking slyly.  
"Does it involve ponies, or puppies?"  
"No! But close..."  
"Roosters?" asked Spike, raising an eyebrow.  
"Roosters? They aren't my style at all! I mean PEOPLE."  
"Wrestling?"  
"Spike, you idiot! I mean gambling!"  
"Isn't that how you keep getting ito debt?"  
"It'll be different this time! We'll make lots of cash!" said Faye, her eyes sparkling.  
"No we won't, we'll just lose everything we have."  
"We have? I have, you mean."  
"Stole of Jet most likely." said Spike, offhand.  
"Oh shut up, I earned that money fair and square when Tiny Tim came in first."  
"Tiny Tim?"  
"Puppy."  
"Faye, you have a serious gambling problem."  
"Gambling isn't a problem! It's an answer to almost every problem!"  
"Except poverty"  
"Whatever"  
"Which Casino are we hitting anyway, Faye?"  
"The Oz."  
"That's pretty serious"  
"I'm a pretty serious girl"  
Spike shrugged his shoulders.  
"C'mon then Dorothy, lets get you some cash"  
"There's nothing like riches, there's nothing like riches!"  
  
FIN.  
  
Next Episode: Red Heeled Shoes (coming out this week). 


End file.
